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Episode 20
Moving On From a Standstill (停滞のその先へ Teitai no Sono Saki e) is the twentieth episode of Rewrite TV Anime series, and the seventh episode of the 2nd Season. It aired on February 25, 2017. The episode covers the entire portion of Terra Route that deals with Kotarou's experiences in a war-torn country. Synopsis Kotarou is in a middle of a battle in a foreign land, as he is working as a mercenary in a private security company under Guardian. He, though hesitantly, shot an enemy, and it took an emotional toll on him. In the boot camp, he was discriminated on the basis of his supernatural ability and his ethnicity. But every time, Luis, his colleague and first true comrade, helps him out. When Luis and Kotarou ate dinner, the food caused him to remember his kill, causing him to run off and vomit. Out of panic, he took out his pistol and attempted suicide, until a young girl named Yasmin came to stop him. He broke down. During their free time, the two play with children, three of them being Midou, Tenma, and Tenjin. Kotarou's sudden flashback to his kill caused him to accidentally kicked the ball unrealistically high. Luis covered this up by telling the children that he was cheating. The children picked on him until Yasmin came to stop them, causing them to leave. Kotarou thanked Yasmin, but she was annoyed that he wasn't spending enough time with her. He gave her a candy bar in exchange, which made the children earlier, along with Luis, to flock towards him. He gave away all his candy bars, and while he looked at the children, Yasmin approached him and shared her candy bar with him. As poverty taught them to share, she was willing to share with him. The company eventually planned to infiltrate a drug manufacturing facility. When they entered they were attacked by Danger beasts with Kotarou and Luis getting separated from the rest of their team. Entering a dark room, they hear a noise and Luis fires, only realising too late that it is a group of young children summoners; including Yasmin, Midou, Tenma and Tenjin. Luis is horrified by what he has done. Noticing that some of the children are badly injured but could survive if given treatment, Kotarou hestitantly answers a radio call from his captain notifying him as to what has happened. He immediately regrets this decision as upon arriving the captain shoots the wounded kids in cold blood then punches and reprimands Kotarou for being weak. As the man leaves, Kotarou considers rewriting himself in order to punish him but is ultimately talked down by Luis. Never the less, Kotarou's faith in Guardian has been broken and he refuses to accept their methods or philosphy of using their abilities to walk over other people. Yasmin and the three boys were hidden prior to the captain's arrival, but the group is still in danger as the facilities contractors plan to bomb the area to destroy any evidence. Kotarou and Luis begin to lead the kids to safety, but upon recognising the danger Luis stays behind, sacrificing himself to allow Kotarou and the children to escape. The group makes it to safety and watches him get consumed by the resulting fire. Yasmin collapses having been accidentally wounded by Luis, and the other kids are now in mortal danger as well. Recognising that they probably won't survive, Yasmin tells Kotarou to just leave them and escape as by saving them he is now a traitor to Guardian. Touched by Luis' sacrifice and final words, Kotarou refuses. Recognising the severity of the situation he rewrites himself, whilst finally coming to the understanding that this ability eats away at his life force. Leaving the kids safely concealed he races across the wasteland at breakneck speed; determined at long last to live by his own principles (and Luis' too). Kotarou ultimately returns to Guardian and is revealed to be the last surviving member of his team, (the fate of the captain and the other units remains unknown) though this is of little consequence to either Kotarou since he secretly no longer abides by Guardians principles, nor the commander who notes they have plenty of other recruits. It is revealed that Kotarou managed to save Yasmin and the other children. Taking them to a sheltered city he gave Yasmin part of his savings, allowing the small group of summoners to live in relative safety and comfort within the city walls. Kotarou changes following this experience, as he has decided to no longer take things lying down. Shortly after the incident, the other members of his unit try to harass him again. Kotarou beats up his chief tormentor without revealing his powers, leaving the second, larger man lying in the dirt. The site of this scares the others so much that they evidently stopped hassling him after that. He then becomes a solo operator taking the opportunity to rescue any young summoners and superhumans, before Guardian or Gaia can get their hands on them. Knowing that these children are only taken advantage of because they are poor, he sends them to Yasmin and the others who essentially become their surrogate families. Thus a small community of summoners and superhumans starts to form, proving that whilst Gaia and Guardian are at odds, Kotarou's assumption that the pair can co-exist has merit. Two years later, Esaka calls Kotarou instructing him to return to Japan. He goes to see Yasmin the night before he leaves, where she reveals that she and all the other children love him greatly and consider him their family, which greatly pleases him. He says that he will continue to support them, and is glad to hear that she thinks that both of them have progressed much in the last few years. No longer, wishing to endanger these children anymore he bids Yasmin a fond farewell and then leaves, reducing Yasmin to tears. Episode Credits * Screenplay: Takashi Aoshima * Storyboard: Ryouma Ebata * Episode Direction: Atsushi Nakayama * Animation Direction: Yasuhito Kikuchi, Hideaki Yokoi, Futoshi Fujikawa, Kazuhisa Kosuge, Hiroshi Satou, Kaori Ishii Trivia * The toy frog that one of the child summoners was animating is a reference to Key's mascot. Category:Episodes Category:2nd Season Category:Terra Route